Falling To Pieces
by SuzieQ8487
Summary: Sequel to Second Time Around. Updated! Finally!
1. The Beginning

**Author's Note**: Hey everyone! Thank you all so much for all the wonderful reviews for the last chapter of STA. They all really meant a lot, and I'm so glad that you all enjoyed the story. And I figured that I made you wait long enough for the sequel… here is what you need to know!

Jake Morgan is sixteen years old. He attends Port Charles High and is currently a junior.

Emma Morgan (yes! Jason and Courtney got their girl! Was there ever any doubt that I wouldn't give them one!) She's fifteen, and also attends PCHS, and is a sophomore.

Morgan Corinthos is sixteen, and is in the same grade as Jake.

Michael Corinthos is 22 (who can imagine a grown up Mikey! It's so hard!) He graduated PCHS and is currently… learning from Sonny and Jason about the business.

Courtney and Jason are obviously still married, as are Sonny and Carly. Carly and Courtney are still the best of friends.

Antonio Alcazar, Courtney's half brother, is Sonny and Jason's lawyer. He's very close to the family. He is not married.

Lorenzo Alcazar is still lurking, and married to Skye Quartermaine. They have no children.

Ric Lansing is married to Alexis Davis, they have two children. Molly Lansing, who is fifteen, and Trevor Lansing who is ten.

Faith is dead, you'll find out why later.

I think that's all you need to know for now. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me or leave it in a review!

* * *

**Disclaimer**: We all know that I own nothing. Except for the characters I make up.

* * *

Courtney tossed the pillow cushions on the floor and dug her fingers into the sides of the couch. For the life of her, she could not remember where she put that parent teacher conference form! Both of her children managed to stay on the honor roll, with an occasional C in math, which she blamed on herself. She was never good in math either.

Courtney's hand grasped something under the cushion, drawing in a breath, she pulled her hand out to reveal… a sock.

It always amazed her how many socks she found on a daily basis. This one was Emma's, considering it was pink. Jake wouldn't be caught dead in anything pink.

"Hey Mom?" Jake yelled as he walked in the door, slamming it shut behind him. Courtney heard her daughter's voice from the other side of the door.

"Jaaaaakkeee." She huffed before she opened the door that was slammed in her face by her brother. "Gosh Jake, you need to grow up."

Courtney smiled at the bickering between her kids, her teenagers. She liked to imagine that that was how she and Sonny or she and Antonio would have been had she grown up with her brothers.

"How was school you guys?" Courtney asked, straightening up and tossing the pink sock to Emma who exclaimed, "I was looking for that!"

"Fine." Jake said before his eyes darted to the pool table, to the stairs, to the desk. Courtney took the time to look at her son. There was once a time when she was taller than him, but she certainly wasn't now. Jake had his father's height, his father's dark hair, and his father's gorgeous eyes. Everyone said that he looked exactly like Jason, which was not always a good thing for him growing up. He never had that many friends when he was little.

"Are you looking for something?" Courtney asked, moving towards him and reaching up on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, is Dad home? I need to talk to him." Jake continued looking around, until he looked at his sister, who was being unusually quiet.

Normally she was talking a mile a minute.

"He'll be home very soon. But you can talk to me in the meantime." Courtney stepped around her son and approached her daughter. "What's going on?"

"Absolutely nothing Mom. Jake is totally overreacting , and he's gonna get Daddy all upset about nothing and then Uncle Sonny is going to freak out, and it would all be for nothing. So please, Jake, just spare us all and keep your mouth shut." Emma sighed and dropped her books on the steps leading upstairs and headed to the kitchen.

As soon as she was out of sight, Courtney turned to Jake.

"What happened?"

"I think someone followed Emma, me, and Morgan home from school today." Jake said, as he watched the color fade out of his mother's face. "Mom, please. It's not like it hasn't happened before. I'll tell Dad what I saw, and he'll take care of it." Jake wrapped his arm around his mother and pulled her into a hug. He thought his mom was a pretty amazing woman, she was fair and kind, and had always loved him for who he was.

Emma stalked out of the kitchen, her favorite peach flavored water in hand, and picked up her books, mumbling something about homework, and dashed upstairs. Courtney and Jake both looked at each other and shrugged.

"She'll be fine. You know how she gets." Jake said as he moved towards the door. "I'm gonna go talk to Morgan. I'll be back pretty soon." Courtney nodded.

Jake opened the door, and saw his father getting off the elevator. He waved to his mom, and shut the door to their penthouse. He hated not telling her the whole truth, but she didn't need to be worrying.

"Hey Dad. I need to talk to you." Jake said as he walked over to the elevator, nodded to Max, and looked at his father, the man he looked up to more than anyone in the entire world.

"Yeah sure. What's up?" Jason's heart got lighter at the sight of his son, but it soon darkened when he saw the look in Jake's eyes.

"Look, I don't want you to freak out, Emma's already mad at me for telling Mom the half-truth."

Jason sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "What happened?"

"Me, Morgan and Emma were driving home from school in Morgan's car, and we were being followed."

"By someone in a car…?" Jason ran his hands through his hair. The business was getting bad again, and the new guys in town weren't happy with Morgan-Corinthos Coffee Imports.

"I think Emma must have recognized him, because she got all weird and tried to make me promise not to tell you. She thinks you have enough to worry about with Michael training and all that stuff…"

"Have you seen this man before?" Jason asked, looking deeply in his son's eyes, the eyes identical to his own. "Have they approached you?"

"No. The guy hasn't come up to me, but what I'm trying to tell you is, I think he's approached Emma. That's why she's so scared."

"You did the right thing, Jake. Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me what's going on." Jason patted his son's shoulder before heading towards his home. "I hate to do this to you again, but I have to put guards on you and Emma while you're at school. Things are getting bad, and I need to know that you're safe, or else I can't do my job."

"I understand Dad. You don't have to explain that to me. But I can take care of myself, and I can protect Emma…"

"I know you can." Jason smiled before he watched his son go into Sonny's penthouse. Taking a deep breath, Jason entered his own home.

He needed to talk to his daughter, something that wasn't as easy as it used to be. But it was imperative that he found this guy who was following his kids home from school. And if he'd approached Emma…

Jason closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. His hidden talent was getting Emma to reveal her secrets. She could never keep anything from him.

"Jason, what's wrong?" the sweet sound of his wife's voice had him looking up. Courtney was as beautiful as she'd been when he first laid eyes on her when she was a waitress. He never thought he'd end up here, so madly in love with her still, with two kids of their own.

"I talked to Jake. He thinks that the guy that followed them… approached Emma." Jason saw Courtney stagger, and he grabbed her around the waist and led her to the couch.

"No. This- this can't happen again. This can't be happening again…" Courtney put her face in her hands and took deep breaths.

"Look, I don't want you to worry." Courtney glared up at him icily. "Sorry, bad choice of words. I'm going to talk to Emma right now, okay? Then, Sonny and I are going to handle this. If anyone threatened our daughter, I'll find out, and you can believe me when I tell you that it won't happen again." Jason kissed Courtney's head before getting up and heading upstairs.

* * *

"Emma? Can I come in?" he was greeted with silence, so he cracked open the door a little bit, to find Emma asleep over her Biology homework, pen in hand, head on book.

Her blonde hair was spread all over her face, and her mouth was slightly open. Ever since she was a baby, she'd always slept with her mouth open. Jason smiled as he slowly crept over to her.

He removed the pen from her hand and set it down on her desk, and with expert skill, he picked her up and cradled her body close to his own and held her in his arms for just a minute.

Jason realized, as he looked down at his beautiful, exhausted daughter, that he didn't watch her sleep nearly enough anymore.

Jason laid her down softly on her queen-size bed and covered her with a blanket she had hanging over her chair. Emma was always cold, so Jason made sure to tuck her in tightly. Kissing her forehead, Jason sat on the edge of her bed just a little while longer.

Courtney's second pregnancy came as a surprise. Doctors called it a medical miracle. Jason called it love. They had so much love in their lives for each other, for Jake, it had to go somewhere! When Emma was born, Jason had cried when he held her.

Not because he was sad, but because she was perfect.

And looking down at his daughter now, her mouth hanging slightly open, tears filled his eyes because she still was.


	2. Coincidentally

A/N: Whew. I was going through my computer today, and came across Second Time Around. I read it. And I forgot how much I loved writing that story. Then I remembered, I started a sequel! Here's chapter 2 of it.

Oh, and an FYI there are going to be many flashbacks to when the kids were small in this story. I'll be sure to let you know where they are.

I hope you're all still interested! It's been so long!

* * *

Emma Morgan woke to see her father sitting on her bed beside her. She felt his blue eyes on her, and forced her lips to curve into a smile for him.

"Hi Dad." she said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes and began to sit up. "I must have fallen asleep doing my homework."

"Yeah you did." He couldn't help it, Jason reached out to touch her hair. "You want to tell me what happened today?"

Emma groaned and flung her face back into her pillow. "I hate Jake!"

"Your brother's just trying to protect you. He was right to come to me and tell me."

"Dad, honestly, it was nothing." Emma sighed, lifting her head again.

"You know you can tell me anything right?" Jason asked, cupping her chin and forcing her to look directly at him.

"Yes." She said briefly.

"Good. Because, you know that I just find out what's going on anyways. You never could hide things from me."

"You always caught me. Even if I was just sneaking a cookie before dinner," Emma laughed at the memory. Her father had made her put the cookie back, and confess to her mother, who'd refused to let her have dessert. Her dad had come up to her room after, two cookies in his hand.

"Please tell me what happened today, Emma. There's been some trouble recently, and I know that you think you can take care of yourself, but it's my job to protect you. Let me do that." Jason leaned forward to look into his daughter's eyes.

"I've seen him before. I think he knows who I am," Emma said warily.

"Who? What does he look like?" Jason asked, his entire body going tense.

"He's Spanish. That I'm sure of. His eyes are cold, dead. He makes sure that I see him, but I don't think he counted on Jake and Morgan making him out. They're smart boys when they're not surrounded by gawking girls." Emma sighed and placed her head in her hands. "This means bodyguards right?"

"I'm sorry to do that to you. I know it's not fair. But I can't take chances. Not with my family." Jason kissed the top of Emma's head. "I need you to come to me if you see this man again."

"Okay."

"Promise me, Emma."

"I promise, Dad."

* * *

Courtney paced the bedroom after Jason filled her in on the conversation he'd had with their daughter.

"You don't think that it's happening again do you?" Courtney asked after minutes of silence. She looked toward her husband, who was sitting on the edge of their bed, watching his wife.

"I don't know, Courtney. There's not much I can tell you. I'm putting bodyguards on Jake and Emma. Max will drive them to and from school. They won't take my kids away from me again."

Courtney looked directly at her husband, as memories came whirling back. Memories she'd hoped would never have to resurface again. She knew Jason was thinking the same thing as she was. 10 years ago, almost to the day, their children had been kidnapped. And it had been four months. Four months until they'd gotten them back.

_**Flashback**_

Courtney had been in the car, on her way to pick up Jake from 1st grade, and Emma from kindergarten. She'd missed them while they were at school. The house was so empty with everyone gone. There was no pitter-patter of feet, no noise coming from the television, no bickering.

Courtney thought she'd almost love it if she didn't hate it so much. She was surprised when her phone rang and she saw it was Jason. He'd told her he'd be in meetings all day.

"Hi," she answered. "How're the meetings going?"

"Courtney are the kids with you?" Jason asked, frantic with worry over the call he'd just received from the school.

"No, I'm on my way to pick them up. Why?" she detected the hint of fear in his voice, and thought about pulling over.

"The school just called. Jake and Emma apparently didn't come back after recess. The school called to remind me to make sure to sign them out if we take them home early." Jason fought back the wave of nausea he felt. His kids, was all he could think. He didn't know where his kids were.

"Jason." Courtney really did pull over as she began to cry. "Jason, how could two kids go missing at their own school?"

"Listen to me. I need you to go home, okay? Go home and let me handle this. Stay with Carly, and don't do anything crazy. I'm going to find them." Jason said, hearing Courtney's voice breaking was hurting him. What was hurting him more was that he didn't know where his kids were. He didn't know if they were even alive.

"I can't do nothing, Jason! They're my kids too! I love them just as much as you do. I'm going to the school. I'm going to ask them how they let a six year old little boy and a five year old little girl disappear without a trace. Try and stop me from finding out where my kids are." And she hung up without another word to her husband, pulled back onto the road, and sped to the school.

_**End Flashback**_

Courtney shook her head at the memory.

"They're older now. Jake's almost taller than me. He's certainly taller than you." Jason chuckled and got up to wrap his wife in his arms.

"You promised me that we would never let this happen again. It's too convenient Jason. Almost ten years to the day. Explain that." Courtney felt herself begin to shake, begin to cry.

"I can't explain it. But I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Jake and Emma are safe. They can end up hating me for it. I don't care. As long as my kids are protected at the end of the day." He kissed Courtney's temple.

"What if it comes down to us or the business?" Her question stopped Jason, and she knew it.

"Then it's you. Always."


End file.
